A celebration event was held at Muscat's Grand Millennium hotel to honour their success under the auspices of His Excellency Dr. Yahya bin Mahfoodh Al Mantheri, Chairman of the State Council. Photo: Supplied

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A celebration event was held at Muscat's Grand Millennium hotel to honour their success under the auspices of His Excellency Dr. Yahya bin Mahfoodh Al Mantheri, Chairman of the State Council. Photo: Supplied

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The jobseekers have qualified to work in a wide variety of trades, including scaffolding, mechanics, pipe fitting, steel fixing, store keeping, metal sheet fabrication, and vehicle maintenance and repair. Photo: Supplied

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The graduates included 17 women, who will work in vehicle sales and social media. Photo: Supplied

Muscat: Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) marked the graduation of 464 young Omanis from Company-sponsored training schemes to take up full-time employment.

A celebration event was held at Muscat's Grand Millennium hotel to honour their success under the auspices of His Excellency Dr. Yahya bin Mahfoodh Al Mantheri, Chairman of the State Council.

The jobseekers have qualified to work in a wide variety of trades, including scaffolding, mechanics, pipe fitting, steel fixing, store keeping, metal sheet fabrication, and vehicle maintenance and repair. Photo: Supplied

The jobseekers have qualified to work in a wide variety of trades, including scaffolding, mechanics, pipe fitting, steel fixing, store keeping, metal sheet fabrication, and vehicle maintenance and repair.

The batch also includes 75 welders who have been trained to 6G level — the highest international standard, and 17 women, who will work in vehicle sales and social media.

The trainees were the eighth batch to graduate from PDO's National Objectives programme which has created more than 40,000 job, training and redeployment opportunities for Omanis since it was launched in 2011, with more than 10,000 this year alone.

The Company is targeting the creation of 50,000 such opportunities between 2017 and 2019 in close consultation with the Ministry of Manpower, The National Training Fund and the Public Authority of Manpower Registration.

The graduates included 17 women, who will work in vehicle sales and social media. Photo: Supplied

PDO External Affairs and Value Creation Director Abdul-Amir Abdul-Hussein Al Ajmi said: "Creating employment opportunities for Omanis is a national priority and PDO is determined to do all it can to support His Majesty's Government in this noble cause.

"This latest graduation of hundreds of jobseekers is another success for our National Objectives programme and our ongoing commitment to work with our partners to secure jobs for nationals both in the oil and gas industry and beyond.

"PDO congratulates all those who have graduated. They have worked hard throughout their training and shown a real desire to succeed, build careers and contribute to the economy."

The graduates underwent training lasting up to 24 months at six training institutes and will now take up work with 27 different employers, including Galfar Engineering and Contracting, Oman Shapoorji, Suhail Bahwan Group, Trade Links and Services, Voltas Oman, and Moosa Abdul Rahman Hassan.

The 75 Omani 6G welders will be the first to be assigned from PDO’s National Objectives programme to the Company's oil and gas mega project at Yibal Khuff. More than 200 have already been enlisted to its other mega project at Rabab Harweel.